2007 Nissan Altima
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It seems that Nissan is going for “understated quality” with the new Altima.
The exterior looks even better. And the interior has a very simple design. Maybe too much so fro some people.
But it does look more business like than the Camry interior. And still much more interesting than the Sonata’s.
These pictures seem to be of an SE model. Big wheels and no wood.
But where is a navigation system?
I can’t even see where they could even fit one….
The overall interior gives a sense of the Pontiac G6, which is not a good thing. It looks bland compared to the Camry, and the next-gen Accord will likely trump this interior easily.
I expected a greater effort from Nissan.
The interior of the current Accord beats this IMO.
this picture really shows the gm copy, you should lay the dash of the impala or the hhr next to his altima the radio controls, the location of the heated seat controls, the chrome pieces on the presets, they are identical…….its kinda funny since when has any gm product been imitated
Why do many new cars nowadays have that push-button start engine?
I absolutely love this company. It is so obvious that they have a much better grasp on style and quality than ANY other company. It’s the nicest looking car in the world. Nissan promises that this will be the best performing front wheel drive car in the WORLD! I believe it
Sorry, still unimpressive. And who needs a navigation system? Can’t anybody read a map anymore. Doesn’t anyone have a sense of direction anymore? Jeez, if you have so much trouble finding your way around, maybe your mommy can drive you.
what a feeling, what a company, mercedes,lexus,bmw,can’t even come close. what an outstanding, quality effort. Bravo my fine friends at Nissan. Toyota and Honda have been put in their rightful place, well behind Nissan!!
The dissapointments just keep coming …
Apparently, the new Altima has a “next gen” VQ, that puts out 265+ HP. Nissan has not said how much power exactly it will put out though. It will be a major dissapointment if it ends up making less power than the V6 Camry.
And those headlights look virtually identical to the 2006 Maxima’s headlights. So now the Maxima looks a bit more like the Altima, and the Altima looks more like the Maxima. Perhaps Nissan’s styling department is having an identity crisis?
The biggest problem flat out is that this car’s design will get old very fast, because it generally looks too similar to the current Altima.
“It is so obvious that they have a much better grasp on style and quality than ANY other company. It’s the nicest looking car in the world. Nissan promises that this will be the best performing front wheel drive car in the WORLD! I believe it”
Where’s the prove?
i think nissan should get a new design.. they are making all their cars look the same…. from far away it will be hard to tell the difference from this to the maxima…. toyota will most likely stay on top even though iam not a big fan… it’s what most people want and thats the way it is
the camry is like the 3 series.. almost impossible to beat
just cause this car has more styling and better handling doesn’t mean it will beat the camry sales record.. and the sales record is the most important thing manufactuers care about… other companies can have a better car but if it doesn’t sell.. it’s useless
the current generation altima has better handling and looks.. but camry still sold a ton more cars…. it’s not about those things.. it’s about the name and what people associate it with… it is the safe choice!
I got a look on the specs and Nissan give a lot of new features in the SE (xenon, bluetooth, smart key, cvt, XM satellite, tire pressure sensor, rear view camera, navy system, etc…) The look is simple but if the dynamic and the quality is improve, this car is well born !
Correction…the SALES record is NOT the most important thing automakers care about..its the PROFITS…that’s what’s important..I rather sales fewer cars and make more money off of them than a bunch of cars and make JACK.
The Camry sales based on several reasons..mainly its reputation for quality, reliability and value. It also sales because of the “Toyota” name..and just so we don’t have to go through this again, the Camry is sold in FLEETS as well. Not quite on the GM/Ford levels, but more so than say the Accord.
Camry is a good car, but if Honda really wanted to beat Toyota, they could. Ever notice the last generation Camry had rebates and the Accord didn’t or that the Camry was at fleets, but never an Accord. Honda could do the same things and prolly beat Toyota in sales, but profit means more to Honda.
Regardless, the new Altima should do very well for Nissan.
And the next time I hear something about a “Pontiac” interior, I’ll gonna BEG Vince to post pictures of all these new Audi models (the tt and A3) that have the SAME round air vents.
People are so fickle and stupid sometimes…it’s okay for the TT and the Audi A3 to have this type of interior, but the minute Nissan does this..it’s “cheap”
Coming from folks who haven’t even seen the damn caer in person…Again I say Americans are some fickle people…
G6 interior = TT interior = Altima interior
The “interior” got cancelled out!
G6 = TT = Altima
???
First off, yes, the TT has a cheap interior design as well. But the materials will probably be better than the Altima. The round vents also are on the G6. Round vents in general look tacky, and it’s hard to execute them well. And people are judging the Altima interior not just for the round vents, but also for the cheap red lighting, the Accord-style layout of the interior, and the Honda Civic-looking gauges.
Yes, you’re right, automakers care about profit. It’s not like Toyota though is making a small amount of profit. If you want to talk about profits per vehicle, then Honda on average makes about $1000 per vehicle. Toyota on average makes about $1500, and Nissan a bit more than Toyota. But these figures are from almost two years ago, and I don’t know whether Nissan’s figures have changed. Honda and Toyota’s figures remain about the same. And guess what, Honda sells more then Nissan, and Toyota sells way more vehicles than either of them. So in the end Toyota is still making LOTS of profit, but unlike Nissan, it didn’t resort to desperate cost cutting by offering really cheap interiors and questionable quality on some models to make big profits. Hopefully Nissan’s cost cutting days are over, and hopefully they can make profits by making good vehicles.
Yes, Camry was sold to fleets, but the Altima had a higher percentage of it’s sales going to fleet than the Camry. Accord fleet sales are small, but they exist nonetheless. Take out the Camry’s fleet sales, and there was still a HUGE amount of retail sales.
Lets not start all this “if” and “but”. If Honda *could* beat Toyota in whatever area, they WOULD have already.
Last time I checked, only the 2006 Camrys really had rebates, and obviously it was to clear out the old models as a lot of people were waiting for the new one. The rebates were still small.
And don’t think Nissan and Honda don’t use rebates. Honda is using rebates to sell it’s Ridgeline and Accord Hybrid, because both have been selling below expectations. Nissan uses rebates on all sorts of models.
I unfortunately feel the new Altima brings too little to the table. The Maxima style headlights are going to put off quite a few buyers. Even the hybrid Altima will be behind the pack, as it will use older Toyota hybrid technology (not the same as the Camry Hybrid).
The Camry and Accord continue to be such sales heavyweights not just for reputation, but more importantly, for sticking true to their roots, and offering families and midsize sedan buyers exactly what they want, instead of what car mags want. The Camry and Accord cater directly to the masses of midsize sedan buyers, while the Altima seems to cater more towards car mags and enthusiasts, which only make up a small percentage of the overall market.
This is outstanding. As you say, Vince, the interior is understated, and it has an industrial elegance to it. The steering wheel in particular is awesome. These exterior pics, though, don’t seem to adequately convey the dominating stance this car has, as compared to other pics I’ve seen. In any event, it’s a nice evolution of the exterior.
For Ghosn’s obvious business acumen, I think that taking the leash off the Nissan designers was one of the best decisions he made, because the competitions’ designers either can’t or won’t keep up with them.
Happy Easter
..looks like Nissan’s design dept. is stuck in rotation, scared and too timid to take the bold steps it has in the recent past.
don’t be an asshole, niisan is so far ahead of you it’s lapping the rest of you.
WHOA you Nissan guys need a reality check. “Best looking car in the world?” YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING. Talk about obvious BIAS. These are fine looking cars but they are really very ordinary. NO ONE will be trading in their Audi for this because they have the same air vents lol. There is a little bit of a different rofl.
Nissan will now have to milk these “new” designs for another 4-5 years. Problem is that they don’t look new at all.
Just imagine in a few years; exterior-wise a 2011 Altima would look generally the same as a 2002 Altima. That’s a scary thing to think about, and definitely not a good thing for Nissan.
First of all, what is a “Cheap” interior design? As I stated..nobody complained when the Audi A3 and Audi TT were released.
Further, I would expect the Audi TT to have better materials than the Altima since it will cost substantially more…but then again, you NOR I have been in the car and you are already calling the materials cheap…pictures don’t tell the entire story.
Also, “cheap” red lighting? I haven’t seen that yet…and further Audi uses Red lightning and nobody calls it cheap…Where does this Altima share anything with the current Accord (which is supposedly the benchmark for interiors)? The stereo is nothign like the Accord.
You aren’t making a lick of sense…and the Altima has NOTHING common with the Civic either…look at the Civic guages then look at the Altima’s..Civic has Digital speedometer…don’t see that in the ALtima…if anything the guages remind me of the Subaru Legacy.
Finally, it would be nice if you would READ what I am saying. I never said the Altima didn’t sell in fleets…I simply said that the Camry sales in HIGHER numbers to fleets verus the Accord. The Accord is ONLY sold with 1-2 percent fleet sales. The Camry somewhere between 12-15 percent. Take away those fleet sales and the Camry is STILL in the lead, but by a significantly smaller amount.
Further, Honda’s have HIGHER resale than Toyotas typically…that is because they are sold less to fleets.
Also, if I remember correctly, Nissan is the MOST PROFITABLE mainstream automaker. ONLY Porchse makes more money per car than Nissan does. Toyota makes less money on cars sold than Nissan does…I read the article on Edmunds.com and Carpoint.com.
Nissan’s typically have higher rebate levels than Toyota however (I guess so, when every Car in the lineup is either being replaced or facelifted this year)
Again…if you would read, you’d see I said the “Last Genearation” Camry had rebates..the 07 does not. But the 03-06 models did have rebates…some LE models had rebates of up to $1500. The 02 models never had a rebate however.
The Accord hybrid may have had rebates..but the traditional Accord has not…dealer incentives maybe but never a factory rebate…unless you count 3.9 percent financing.
And you are CRAZY if you don’t think the Altima will appeal to family buyers and appeals ONLY to car magazines. If that’s the case why has the Accord always won car comparisons and not the Camry or Altima? You don’t make a bit of sense.
You haven’t even seen the car, yet you already know the car “doesn’t bring enough to the table”
How about you wait and see the car in person before you judge.
Because afterall, Hybrid technology is NICE…but NOT one Hybrid yet has lived up to its HIGH MPG rating and it takes YEARS to recap the extra money you spend on a hybrid with its slightly better fuel economy.
great looking new Altima it will sell very,very well.That will be the TRUE mark of the car.I can’t comment on the interior without seeing it in person other than it looks like a great improvement over the last one.Not as impressed with the new Maxima it looks too much like the old one.As far as any new style looking like another manufactures product if you look hard enough you”ll see it in every vehicle.Grow up that’s the way it is in the real world. the pres
Poor Johnson, not realizing that excellent designs don’t have to resort to being completely revamped with every new iteration. Nearly any ZX still looks sweet, some DECADES after their manufacture ceased. A classic design is a classic design, period, and Nissan’s going to have ~10 year period where every time someone sees an Altima, they’re going to know it’s an Altima. Same thing with the Xterra. Same thing with the G. What auto manufacturer wouldn’t love that kind of brand and product identity? It’s like free built-in advertising. Jeep has had it for years.
But I understand why you’d be confused on this point, given what Toyota has put out in the recent past, at least prior to the FJ Cruiser, LOL.
Nobody complains because firstly Audi has a reputation for interiors, while Nissan does not. Nissan once *had* a reputation for good interiors, but they threw that reputation away with the restructing and Ghosn’s cost cutting. Nissan is now trying to get that reputation back. Again, I’m not talking about the material quality. I’m talking about the layout and design of the interior. Fact is, it has Pontiac/Audi/*insert any other automaker* type round vents that just don’t look that great. This is obviously my opinion, since I’m talking about the design of the interior. The centre dash, and the bottom part of the centre dash is similar to the Accord. Whether or not you see it isn’t a big deal, because other people do see it, and the media will likely harp on Nissan for making a derivative interior.
Again, it has similar gauges as the new Civic, with the contrasting numbers and notation, and the blue rings.
You also forgot to mention Altima fleet sales, which are also about 10 – 15%, similar levels as the Camry.
Toyota’s resale values are slightly below Honda, but both are very close and at the top industry-wise. Lexus resale is better than Acura resale, so overall they’re basically tied.
Simply saying “most profitable” is misleading. Most profitable *per car* among volume automakers is more accurate. Most profit automaker is Toyota, because no other automaker even comes close to the total annual profits that Toyota makes. This is because Toyota sells way more vehicles than Nissan.
You just proved my point regarding the car mags. Just because a certain car wins in car mag tests, doesn’t mean it’s a big seller. The Honda Ridgeline and Mazda 3 have won several comparison tests, yet they aren’t exactly popular cars. The Accord typically wins only in Car and Driver consistently. Car mag comparisons are not an indication of what the masses want, and what the market wants in a car. Car comparisons like that rarely review and thoroughly compare the cars on the basis of practicality, and being useful for a family. Car mags don’t do that because that’s not interesting, and then the mags won’t sell to enthusiasts.
We’ve seen the interior, exterior, and I already have a good sense of how it will look in real life. We also have some preliminary specs. Nissan might surprise me with new info, but I’m not holding my breath.
And to that last person, Nissan fan or employee, or whoever you are, the Altima is not a “classic” design. Tacky tailights do not make a classic design. It would have helped your credibility if you at least mentioned something like the 350Z. See, the fact that Nissan kept the exterior very similar to the current Altima will only make the car’s styling more dated and more forgettable. This is a midsize sedan, not a sports car we’re talking about.
And it’s typical, blaming the EPA figures of hybrid vehicles on the automakers, instead of blaming the EPA.
It’s not just hybrids, but A LOT of vehicles from a variety of automakers FAIL to live up to EPA estimates, because the EPA is using an inaccurate and outdated system. This will change starting with Model Year 2008 cars, when a new updated method begins use.
Ford and Honda seem to be having a bit of trouble selling their hybrids, but Toyota’s hybrids continue to sell well without problems. The Prius still remains one of the most undersupplied cars on the market, sitting on dealer lots for an average of about 6 -7 days. The Camry Hybrid is going to be a success, and so far reviews of the Camry Hybrid have generally been getting above 30mpg in mixed driving, which is really good, even if it doesn’t match the EPA ratings.
Audi does have a high reputation for high quality interiors, but it doesn’t change the fact that the Audi looks more “Pontiac” or “Insert any other Automaker here” interior than the Nissan does.
Double standards don’t work with me, try again. You harp on the Nissan for having a “insert here” interior, when the new Audi does the same thing? Try again…
The ONLY thing this new Altima shares in common with the new Accord is the lower console design..which the Current Altima has anyway. Other than that, I don’t see a similarity between this new Altima’s interior and the Accord’s current one.
As far as the Civic guauges, seems you don’t know very much about colors. The Civic Sedan has blue and white gauges..the Si and coupe models get the Blue/Red. You are saying that the Altima has Civic gauges simply based on the fact that they both are blue? You are an idot! If that’s the case then, I guess the last generation Civic was a VW copy seeing as they tried to mimic VW’s Jetta.
Like I said, if the Altima has guages similar to ANYBODY in this class, it’s the Subaru Legacy…NOT the Civic. outside of colors, the cars have absolutely NOTHING in common guage design-wise. Contrasting numbers and rotation? I don’t think so…The Civic has a DIGITIAL speedometer…the Altima does not…the Altima has a three gauge design, the Civic has a two-tier dash with the speedometer above it. Similar, I don’t think so. Try again.
Toyota’s mainstream cars indeed do have lower resale value numbers than competing Hondas. Nobody mentioned Acura and Lexus, but we all know Lexus beats Acura in resale.
Further, we all know that Toyota is the more profitable car maker…but they don’t make the MOST profit off of their cars. That was my point. Toyota is vastly more profitable OVERALL than Honda or Nissan (They should be considering they have a much larger lineup) but they make less off the Camry than Honda or Nissan do off the Accord or Altima…that’s a fact, and that was my point.
Nope, I haven’t just proved your point amongst automakers because you said the Altima did better to cater to car magazines than the typical Accord and Camry, and I proved that your assetment ws not the case.
The Accord only wins in Car and Driver you say? You are wrong yet again.
Until this recent car comparison test, the Accord has beat BOTH The Camry and Accord in Road and Track, Motortrend, Car and Driver and the previous Edmunds.com comparison test. The last Edmunds.com comparison test the new Camry actually won..but it was by less than 1 point. Obviously the car magazines aren’t too far off, considering the Accord is the number two car and it wins all the comparison tests…the new Camry might win some this year, but like ALWAYS, Honda will regain the car mag’s top spot again, the Altima never has…
I didn’t fail to mention anything about the Altima’s fleet sales..that was not what we were talking about. You were talking about how the Camry VASTLY outsells the Accord and I proved that your assetment was not the case. The Camry only SLIGHTLY outsells the Accord when fleet sales aren’t accounted for.
Tacky taillights? No worse than the boy racer body kit of the Camry SE or the “Bull Nose” look of the Camry’s front end.
Styling is subjective…what he finds classy, you might find not so classy.
Your opinion is no more valid then anybody else’s in this forum.
My mistake, I have confused the Altima’s gauges for the new G35’s gauges. The G35 gauges are the ones that look like Civic gauges, and that I doubt you can deny.
The Audi interior looks more like a G6 than the Altima does? I’m sorry, but I must take issue with that. In case you don’t know, the old TT had the same style interior, so you could say Pontiac copied Audi. In any case, Audi wasn’t the one copying interiors. Whether Nissan mimiced Audi or Pontiac, that Altima interior does have some resemblence to the competition.
The current Altima does not have the same type of vertical console, and is not in the same layout as the Accord’s interior is. In the new Altima, the lower console is positioned in the same way as the Accord is.
Nissan was making the most profit off of their cars thanks to a lot of cost cutting which resulted in cheap quality and questionable reliability, like the infamous QX56, an embarassment of a luxury SUV.
Again, I don’t see the reason for making your point. Yes, Nissan is most profitable on average *per car* among volume automakers. But that’s not exactly comforting when sales in North America have been stagnant for a few months now, when Nissan is decreasing production in Japan, and when Nissan’s reputation is taking a hit.
Nissan needs to increase their investment into quality, and into more substantial redesigns.
Again, you prove my point that mag results and actual market demands are two completely different things. Mags typically sell to enthusiasts as I said, which are a small minority of the car buying public. Like you said, the Altima never wins, or is never even featured in comparisons most of the time, yet it’s a pretty good seller.
The fleet percentages for various cars no doubt you saw were of data for Oct 2004 – March 2005. Fleet sales percentages for all of 2005 have not yet been released. Furthermore, Accord sales have taken a hit, and dropped 10% in March, likely due to the new Camry. The new Camry having a 4 cyl hybrid is a decisive advantage over the Accord, and it’s V6 hybrid. The V6 hybrid Accord is languishing on dealer lots, and is selling in low numbers. In contrast, the Camry Hybrid is already highly in demand by a lot of consumers, and is set to be a big seller.
And on last thing; you still have not told me what makes the Altima a better choice, or more appealing to families, compared to an Accord or Camry? Specifically, what does the new Altima possess, that would make a family, or typical midsize sedan buyer want to buy it over a Camry or Accord?
Ahhh, it’s so sweet when the Toyota and Honda sheep are threatened like this. It’s obvious this new Nissan commoner killer has the followers of hon and toy just a shakin’. LOVE IT! Don’t be so transparent of your fears of Nissan the king when you write. you can break away and join too.